Christmas Island National Park Robber Crab (Birgus latro) Road Kill Monitoring 

The dataset contains records of Robber Crab (Birgus latro) mortality across Christmas Island, including location co-ordinates and details of sex and thoracic length. To manage the impact of road mortality on the species, this monitoring project is designed to assess spatial variation in road mortality. Basic data are collected at the site (sex, size, date, coordinates). 

We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. 

The Australian territory of Christmas Island lies in the Indian Ocean, 2,600 km northwest of Perth and 500 km south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. Christmas Island National Park is 85 km² in size and makes up almost two thirds of Christmas Island. The robber crab (Birgus latro) is categorized as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List, and Christmas Island is thought to have one of the largest remaining populations. Robber crab road mortality appears to vary with changes in traffic density. Since the opening of the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre in late 2009, thousands of robber crabs have been run over on the island's roads in line with the increased population and vehicular traffic, especially at night. Park staff began marking the location of road kills using pink marker paint to denote the sites and make them visible in January 2010. 

Data not provided.